imho ,image quality is very good for a compact camera , on my
ricoh gx 200great at iso 64 ,at iso 200 shows image degradation and noise , at 400 the ricoh has too much noise and subpar iq for my taste, i still love my ricohs but i must be honest the samsung tl500 high iso is a whole new game .
the samsung tl 500 has good iq at 400 and seems useable at 800 too.
even iso 3200 would yield very useable results if not printing above 4x6
i will print later to see if this is my imagination.
it shoots good jpegs at super fine and fine [ cant see a difference] , shoots raw iso range is 80-3200 iso 80 -200 is stellar
400 is beyond anything ive seen from a compact
even 3200 though degraded seems free any banding or insane levels of noise .
the menus are clear and for the most part sensible... getting to manual focus requires a a button push or 2 more than seems necessary , but once your in, it works well .
it has 2 input dials like the ep1\2 which are great in manual exposure mode , the front dial allowing 16 secs to 1 \1500 sec to be dialed in... the rear dial [ like the lower dial on the pen] changes f stop allowing 1.8- 6.7 at "24mm" and 2.4 -6.9 at "72mm" the higest f stops seems 7.2 somewhere in the middle.... strangely this seems the smallest f stop i can use . [for comparison the ricoh in M mode allows f 9.2 at "24mm" and f15.6 at "72mm"]
iso and ev adjustment, shutter speed, and aperture commendably are at you fingertips and all other functions are easy and quick to get to.i love this
like you would expect of a pro calibre point and shoot, it shoots raw , psam
has 4 af modes plus manual,called, center, multi, selection af, and tracking af
"photo styles" .... you will find NOR[normal]...SK [a monochrome 'drawing"effect]..FO[ called distinct?]...S[soft]..V [vivid]..F[ forest]
there is CO [ "cool" ,not carbon monoxide] there is a CA, "calm" , not calf]
but strangely CL is not 'collected" , instead it is "classic" which in
samsungspeak means B & W mode ................. further there is a neg[color reversal] and a custom rgb with 3 user definable scales....whew!
ther are also filters , normal, vignette, miniature, and fisheye [ [ fisheye distortion at "24mm" without the benefit of 180 degree fov] , said to give video that quirky look says samsung
the 600,000 dot lcd looks great , blacks are true and color and contrast is above avg , outdoors in direct sunlight is just visible , but better than the pen and lightyears ahead of the gf 1....i love it . the amoled is articulated as well which is kind of cool yet the cameras ia still pretty slim
the thing i really was impressed by is the dual shot dynamic expansion mode
see the 2 shots for comparison, i thought this well done in the tl 500
i love the many inputs on this camera, 2 top dials , one for single shot\ multishot\bracket, and 2 &10 sec timers. the other dial , the usual psam dial...nice
on the back a spin dial like the canon s 90 but not so loose with typical 4 way press function , six back buttons and a great thumb dial on the front
...great imo. flash is small and weak but exposes well and repeatably. wiith all the input options it feels very well laid out and not crowded at all.
it feels great in the hand and the build quality is above avg it seems made mostly of metal it has a real textured grip and feels like a real camera
looks wise i think its one of the best looking machines to come out since the 3 pens and the gf1 .
video might be a letdown for many; 640x480 at 15 or 30 fps , me, i dont care
but the battery life is not outstanding to me , its ok, dont get me wrong
i shot for 4 hours with lots of review came home and 15 minutes later the battery died. the battery charges in camera wth a AC to usb converter to hdmi? thingy not as horrible as it sounds,...external charger is an option, when on for an extended time the grip gets warm.
the quality of the images dont equal micro four thirds ...no surprise. it is, after all, a point and shoot , but one i think an advanced shooter will feel at home with.
overall im pleased with the machine , its not perfect , and as spell of the new camera smell wears off im sure i will see some thing that dont thrill me , but for now im a happy camper.
edit...something i didnt go into above but should have is the schneider-kreuznach
varioplan zoom 5.2mm-15.6mm f1.8- 2.4 at 72 equiv its maybe 1\2 a stop faster than
most other cameras and more than a stop faster than my gx-200 [5.1-15.3mm f2.5-4.4]
the lens is very sharp and colors look good, i am impressed with this lens which is very good even at 1.8
its the fastest point n shoot at this point , i think
images to follow... full sized images are in the gallery for consideration
iso 80
iso200
iso400
iso800
iso1600
20Thanks
my new samsung tl 500
